my craftsman drill press

Looks like a PROJECT to me. I think you hit it on the head with the bearing speculation. The other thing that pops to mind is that the gears might be heavily worn. If they don’t fit tightly together they may wobble as they spin against each other.

That’s a neat piece of “old iron” you have there. Good luck on the repairs.

-- Behind the Bark is a lot of Heartwood----Charles, Centennial, CO

Run don’t walk to owwm.com

There are EXPERTS there that can help you

-- "Not skilled enough to wipe jam on toast!"

There is an article at www.woodworkersinstitute.com titled ‘How to get the best out of a drill press’. Might be a start.

Cheers
Doug

-- Life is about solving problems and trying not to be the cause of those problems in the first place

Is the spindle wobbling or just the chuck? The spindle may be a bearing problem, if it’s in the chuck their may be trash between where it presses on.

-- Jeff,

I’ve got this drill press. It’s from the 70’s but mine has little wear on it as it was not used for almost 30 years. It’s a great machine, Heavy chunk of metal that is capable of drilling cleanly and true.

The shaft is direct drive from top pully to chuck (driven by the back pulley). I’ve pulled the top pulley before. There’s a nice set of bearings in the head. It would seem that if they were wobbly they’d also make some noise. This drillpress has a nearly noiseless sound. Beyond the motor the sound is only a shhhhh… The shaft is short and massive. I can’t imagine it bending.

If you’ve got a worn chuck. i.e. If the three teeth in the chuck that hold the drill are very worn, the drill will clamp off center. If those teeth are worn throwing the drill off even part of a degree, it will wobble like a swizzle stick. It’s like when you accidently chuck a drill but don’t quite get it in the center. If the press seems to run smoothly without bearing noise I’d look to the chuck first. You should be able to tell if the chuck is wobbling or just the drill is.

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful. http://web.me.com/deceiver6/Deceiver/Craftsman_on_the_lake/Craftsman_on_the_lake.html